This is an interesting, Talmudic piece in Haaretz by Chaim Gans, an author on Zionism, saying that Palestinians unfairly paid the price (as no other people did) for the creation of the Jewish state, but that there was justice in the creation of that state:
The constant reiteration of the fact of the
Palestinians' refusal to accept the Partition Plan, in an effort to
make them responsible for the completely unfair costs we extract from
them for the conflict, is to close our eyes to the great injustices
that we are carrying out. Instead of understanding Zionism in a manner
that includes recognition for the justice of the Palestinians'
opposition, even to its just elements, we deny the right of this
opposition so as to create many unjust elements for Zionism.
In my opinion, only an understanding of the justice
of Zionism that includes a recognition of the right of the Palestinian
objection [to Partition], and only Palestinian recognition of the justice of their
opposition to Zionism that also includes a recognition of its justified
elements, can lead to a stable resolution of the conflict.
Gans is also challenging my side here, spiritually, at a time of division and hatred. He is saying that anti-Zionists and non-Zionists consumed with
the Nakba, must put themselves into pre-'48 and recognize the justice
of the impulse to create Israel. He wants us to urge Palestinians to recognize the justice of the impulse, too.
Which raises the nagging question I have had since Gaza: With world opinion changing, and the Palestinian cause growing ever more sympathetic, and conditions for the Palestinians worse than at any time that experienced members of my delegation could remember, wouldn't the biggest power move/gamechanger be for Hamas to accept Israel's right to exist, and then fully initiate a civil-rights struggle? Reflect that Hamas met during my visit with American Jews, including Norman Finkelstein and Medea Benjamin, who has come back to witness for the Palestinians. I am surely confused here, in my usual turbulent ways; but Tehran demonstrates that the struggle for democracy is more electrifying/compelling than revolution. And our side has the ability to commandeer world opinion.
Rob Browne responds:
Several years ago, I read a book by Yossi Klein Halevi titiled "At
The Entrance To The Garden Of Eden: A Jew's Search For God With
Christians And Muslims In The Holy Land". While not a fan of Halevi, I
found this to be an interesting and, at times, inspiring book. From
what I can remember, he spent time with members of the Armenian
community in Jerusalem. During the conversations, these people all
felt that they could not move on, as individuals and as a community,
without Turkey's acknowledgment of the Genocide. They felt that Jews
were able to move beyond the Holocaust due to Germany's (and maybe the
world, as well) acceptance of what happened.
I wonder if Israel's (and the Diasporatic Jewish communities)
acknowledgement of the realities of the Nakhba could be an important
symbolic step in working with Palestinian individuals and groups to
gain their recognition. Maybe that is something for those of us in the
progressive Jewish world to work on?
